Sept 21 - Lucca to Siena

 Sept 21 - Lucca to Siena 

A travel day. 


With no direct rail link today we were soon back in Florence changing for a bus to Siena.  As this was one of our longer journeys, about 150k in total, it meant a later arrival than normal.  When we did get here though, we were delighted to find that our apartment was actually facing onto the Piazza del Campo, one of Europe's greatest medieval squares and home to the twice-a-year horse-race the Palio di Siena. (HERE for a BBC YouTube clip on the Palio)

Having bought tickets for a number of sights our first visit was to the Duomo.  This spectacular 13th century cathedral is neither particularly large or tall, however, what makes it pretty special are its black and white striped construction and the inlaid marble mosaic artwork on the floor.  The reason for the black and white is that they’re the symbolic colours of Siena and linked to the colours of the horses of the legendary city’s founders.

The Cathedral is also home to the the Piccolomini Library, housing precious choir books and magnificent frescoes apparently painted on designs by Raphael.  These frescoes tell the story of the life of Siena's favourite son, Cardinal Piccolomini, (Pope Pius II) after whom (who?) the the library is named. I know these frescoes have been restored at some point but the colours are so vivid they look like they’ve only been painted recently, they’re fantastic. 

Our last activity of the day was a tour called the ‘Porta del Cielo, literally the ‘Door of the Sky’ but generally accepted to be the ‘Gate to Heaven’!  This is a tour inside the roof of the Duomo that allows access to views of the ceiling and wall decorations as well as the marble mosaic floor from above.  We also had access to the walkway on the Duomo's roof with some great views of the city and the local countryside which was lovely. 



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